bunkum

[ buhng-kuhm ]
See synonyms for bunkum on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. insincere speechmaking by a politician intended merely to please local constituents.

  2. insincere talk; claptrap; humbug.

Origin of bunkum

1
An Americansim dating back to 1815–20; after a speech in the16th Congress (1819–21), by F. Walker, who said he was bound to speak for Buncombe (a county in the district in North Carolina that he represented)
  • Rarely bun·combe .

Words Nearby bunkum

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bunkum in a sentence

  • Their magic of the first kind is compounded of pure bunkum and fraud.

    The Wolf Cub | Patrick Casey

British Dictionary definitions for bunkum

bunkum

buncombe

/ (ˈbʌŋkəm) /


noun
  1. empty talk; nonsense

  2. mainly US empty or insincere speechmaking by a politician to please voters or gain publicity

Origin of bunkum

1
C19: after Buncombe, a county in North Carolina, alluded to in an inane speech by its Congressional representative Felix Walker (about 1820)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012